Google Home devices get hands-free calling in the UK

One of the more interesting features of Google Home devices is the ability to make phone calls by simply asking Google. This feature has been available in the United States for several months now and the UK is the second market to get the feature. All you have to do is say "Hey, Google, Call Dave" or "Call Mum". If you've never placed a call with Google Home in the past, your device will tell you to go into the Home app and set up voice calling. Once you confirm your phone number, you'll get an SMS to confirm that you are the owner of the phone number. This is so when you make a...

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LTE Surface Pro model now available for pre-order by anyone

Microsoft's Surface Pro with LTE was announced back in late-October with initial availability limited to business customers. Microsoft's website now shows that the Surface Pro model with LTE is now available for preorder from any consumer. Currently, there is only a single LTE model available for pre-order. That's the one with an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. If it fancies your wallet, this LTE model runs for $1,449 and for those who are wondering: that does not include the Type Cover or Surface Pen. The LTE model has a $150 premium over the non-LTE version of...

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BlackBerry lawsuit alleges that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp infringed on BBM patents

The latest lawsuit from BlackBerry claims that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp (all of which are services owned by Facebook) have infringed on seven patents. BlackBerry is asking for monetary damages "including an enhancement of damages on account of Defenants' willful infringement." More specifically, BlackBerry alleges that Facebook and its daughter companies have created messaging apps "that infringe on BlackBerry patents covering security, user interface features, battery-efficient status updates, and integrating mobile messaging in games," according to Variety. BlackBerry...

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Google Lens is now available to everyone on Android through Google Photos

Last month Google unveiled that its Lens feature would become available to all Android and iOS users through the Google Photos app, following an exclusivity period of a few months for Pixels. Today that integration is finally rolling out, with an update to Photos in the Play Store. With Lens, you can create a contact from a photo of a business card or get more information about a famous landmark that you've captured. That's because Lens understands what you're looking at, and will try to make the most of that. It will soon have improved support for recognizing common animals and plants, so...

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Gboard for Android gets support for more than 20 new languages, including Chinese and Korean

Gboard is adding support for over 20 new languages on Android today, including Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) and Korean. Google says its users made it clear that these were the top two missing languages from the app, so now they're in. Following this move, Gboard supports over 300 language varieties, which cover 74% of the world's population. The full list of currently supported languages is available here. Today's update should already be rolling out through the Play Store. It includes some of the world's most widely spoken languages, but also much lesser known ones -...

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Huawei P20 promo images show off the AI-powered triple camera

Official-looking promo images show off the triple camera setup on the Huawei P20 series and they reveal the ace up its sleeve - AI. The tagline reads "See mooore with AI" (three Os for three cameras, get it?). Previous images of the P20 showed only two cameras, so the three camera setup may be reserved for the Pro model. It's a little strange that the third camera is on a separate "island", but perhaps there's a good reason for that - we'll find out on March 27. Official-looking promo images for the Huawei P20 series And since the notch is a controversial topic, this is one of...

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US committee might have issues with the Broadcom/Qualcomm deal

Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm may be in trouble from an unexpected source. There was a possibility that the shareholder meeting (which was scheduled for today) would scoff at the new, lower price or that antitrust authorities would object to this concentration of Wi-Fi tech (remember: Qualcomm is in the process of absorbing NXP). But no, it's the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that caused the shareholder meeting to be delayed by 30 days. Perhaps it's not that surprising, the US has been pretty negative towards foreign companies lately. And while Broadcom...

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Android P may allow your phone to work as a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse

Samsung's latest DeX dock allows the Galaxy S9 to be used as a trackpad, a feature that Huawei already supported in its own PC mode and Microsoft in its Continuum before that. Android P may bring official support for this and even add the option of using the phone as a keyboard. A patch for this was committed back in December 2016, but has been disabled. Using a phone as a trackpad is pretty okay, though the typing experience won't be great. Still, simplifying the controls to something like joystick sounds nice - e.g. an extra controller for your console. Alternatively, it could be...

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Pre-orders for Galaxy S9 may be on par with the S8

Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are live and Samsung expects them to sell more than the S8 duo. With the launch date looming, industry sources are starting to doubt that this will be the case. "We believe that the pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 are similar to that of the Galaxy S8," an official from Samsung Electronics said. The official claims that last year the S8 had a longer time between announcement and pre-orders to build up hype. However, officials from carriers have a different estimate on the sales: similar or slightly lower. "Customers may be finding the...

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Meizu E3 announcement pushed back to March 21

Meizu has been keeping a surprisingly low profile lately. The M6s was the first to interrupt a rather worrying announcement dry spell for the Chinese manufacturer. That being said, at lot seems to be brewing in Meizu's labs, like the 15 Plus, the X2, as well as the the E3, which was expected to debut today. Sadly, that didn't come to pass and today's event merely contained a few new teasers for the upcoming phablet. While we can only speculate as to why the company is postponing the launch we can confidently say that the Meizu E3 will be unveiled on March 21. Thanks to a few...

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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s spy shot reveals the position of the dual camera - in the corner

Xiaomi's Mix phones have always had stunning design but were lacking in the camera department - something that will soon change. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s promises to bring a dual camera, though the rumors can't agree on where that camera will be located. An earlier leak put it in the center (with the LED flash separating the two lenses). This latest leak, however, shows a more iPhone X-like position in the top left corner. Alleged photo of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s Personally, we prefer the camera centered, but this is the exact same layout as the Redmi Note 5 Pro, which makes this the...

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ARM unveils mid-range Mali-G52 GPU as well as the entry-level G31

Over a year ago, ARM introduced the Mali-G51 GPU for mid-range chipsets. However, it didn't see any use, chipset makers stuck to G71/G72 and just dialed back the number of cores. Well, time for another go - here are the Mali-G52 for the mid-range and G31 for the entry-level. Mali-G52 The Mali-G52 promises a 30% boost in "performance density" compared to a G51 on the same process node. Since bigger chips cost more, with G52 chipset designers can get higher frame rates for the same price or a cheaper chip with the same performance. Power efficiency gets a modest 15% bump. And...

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